This invaluable book covers all aspects of procurement, from drafting and using contracts to procurement strategies for privately financed projects. It is written from a construction perspective, and uses examples from other industries where appropriate. This essential book offer presents guidance, explanations and case studies to help the reader comprehend the strengths and weaknesses and realistic meanings and outcomes of the stages in the development of an effective procurement strategy. Bringing together the theory and practice that relates to procurement, the book offers guidance on show the process should be undertaken. It begins by outlining the role of procurement in the construction industry, including the problems it faces and some of the steps that can be taken to overcome these problems. It then goes on to consider contractor selection and raises issues relating to the allocation of risk in contracts and factors to consider when awarding a contract. A brief summary of the relevant legal aspects is also provided. The book also examines contract strategy, major organisational arrangements and payment types and prvides a summary of the key features of the most common standard forms of contract. The relationship between benchmarking, key performance indicators and incentives is explained and a framework for developing incentive mechanisms is provided.